National

Tamil nadu,November 16: All rain-affected districts also braced for more agony with the India Meteorological Department issuing warning for heavy rains in the next three days in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and coastal Andhra Pradesh.

Tamil Nadu shut down educational institutions on Monday in 15 districts as heavy rain battered large parts of the state for the third consecutive day in one of the worst winter deluge that has left more than 70 dead.

The government deputed senior IAS officials to monitor the situation while teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been rushed from Andhra Pradesh as a precautionary measure.

Capital Chennai - the biggest city in the coastal state - bore the brunt of the north-east monsoon with office-goers struggling to wade through waist-deep water and local trains running late due flooding of the tracks.

Official sources said besides educational institutions, many private organisations also declared a holiday for the day in view of the situation.